There was no one managing email. No dedicated person, no strategy, no rhythm. Sends happened when someone remembered to send something which meant the channel had zero alignment with the business: its seasonality, its promotions, its actual calendar.
The opportunity was right there. An audience that had opted in, a platform already in place, and nothing being done with either of them consistently.
I came in, built the email program from the ground up and established the structure the business was missing. Welcome flows, a 5% discount automation for new subscribers, and a send cadence finally tied to what the business was actually doing. The result was a 70% uplift in conversion rate, documented by Mailchimp as part of their official Australia case study.
Personalisation at scale only works when the foundation is right. Before touching creative or copy, the audience logic, data structure and automation architecture had to be rebuilt from zero. Only then could optimisation actually begin.
Rebuilt the audience structure from scratch. Divided subscribers by what they actually do browse history, purchase patterns, engagement signals not just who they are on paper. The algorithm finally had something real to work with.
Replaced calendar sends with moment based automations. Welcome series, abandoned cart recovery, post purchase sequences, re engagement flows all mapped to the real customer journey. Emails went out because something happened, not because it was Tuesday.
Content blocks that adapt per subscriber. Different people see what is relevant to them. Personalisation built into the architecture, not bolted on as an afterthought. Every inbox felt like it was written for that person specifically.
Subject lines, CTAs, send times, content hierarchy always testing, never guessing. Every send was also a data point. Insights compounded week over week into a clear picture of what actually moved people.
Cut the dead weight. A smaller, engaged list outperforms a bloated, cold one every single time. Deliverability improved immediately. Metrics that had been dragged down by ghost subscribers finally reflected reality.
The real win wasn't the number. It was finally knowing exactly who opened, who clicked, who converted and being able to build on that every single week.
The campaigns were not the problem. The absence of structure was. Once segmentation, automation and testing were solid, every creative decision became sharper. The results followed. This is the work that happens before the fun stuff. And it is exactly what makes the fun stuff actually land.
The full breakdown including platform setup, data and outcomes is documented in the Mailchimp Australia case study.